1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Front suspension squeak . Help.

No, it's not the best way - if the bearing's noisy it probably should be replaced, but to find out if that's the problem, pop that cap off and work some grease into the bearing and see if the noise goes away or changes, if it does that's your problem for sure.

 

Ha! I knew I recognized it, we were there for dinner one night. I was in town for the Aussie supahcah races at CoTA in mid-May.

Sorry that didn't fix your noise, but it sounds like you may have found where the problem lies.

You don't have to remove the steering knuckle, the bottom of the strut is held in the steering knuckle by a pinch bolt, remove that and it will come up out of the knuckle - might take some persuasion tho, like a big prybar pushing down on the lower control arm. Don't forget to disconnect the sway bar link, it takes a 5mm allen and a 16mm wrench.

 

Sorry I am late to this party-the noise you are hearing is the rubber around the bearing failing. That is why grease in the bearing does little. Unless you are going to track the car and actually change the settings, DO NOT buy adjustable camber plates from anyone. Your ride will be worse and noisier. The Ireland Fixed camber plates are a great choice, the rubber bushing is actually thicker and you wind up with a smoother ride. Installation is fairly simple and self explanatory if you are mechanically inclined-if not, a competent shop shoul not charge more than 100.00 to change it. and a good 4 wheel alignment anytime the front end is apart is a god idea.

 

Mine are fine too. And after a proper alignment the ride is awesome!

 

No experience with adjustable plates many folks love them. I do have about 100,000 miles on a set of IE fixed plates & love them.

 

I have to amend my "instructions" a bit, you do have to release the lower ball joint in order to get the strut out, at least I did on the '03 I worked on this morning. We took the two bolts out and the ball joint slid right out, easy peasy.

 

That's very interesting. I'd suggest doing a thorough nut & bolt check on the rest of your front suspension. Loctite 242 is your friend.